New Delhi: 15 suicides take place every hour
in India and a majority (69.2 per cent) of the suicide victims
are married while 30.8 per cent un-married, according to
latest government statistics.
One suicide out of every 5 is committed by a housewife,
said the statistics released today in the form of a report.
"It is observed that social and economic causes have led
most of the males to commit suicide whereas emotional and
personal causes have mainly driven females to end their
lives," the report, released by Home Minister P Chidambaram,
said.
41.1 per of suicide victims were self employed while
only 7.5 per were un-employed.
More than one lakh persons (1,34,599) in the country lost
their lives by committing suicide during the year 2010 and
nearly 70.5 per cent of the suicide victims were married males
while 67.0 per cent were married females, according to the
report of the National Crime Record Bureau for 2010.
Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka Maharashtra and Andhra
Pradesh accounted for 65.8 per cent of suicide victims in the
age group 60 years and above.
Suicides because of `family problems` (23.7 per cent) and
`illness` (21.0 per cent) combined accounted for 44.7 per cent
of total suicides, said the report.
The percentage of suicides due to `property dispute` and
`death of dear person` showed a relatively higher increase of
48.0 per cent and 28.9 per cent respectively.
The overall male:female ratio of suicide victims for the
year 2009 was 65:35. However, the proportion of boys:girls
suicide victims (upto 14 years of age) was 52:48.
26.3 per cent of the suicide victims were primary
educated and 22.7 per cent were middle educated while 19.8 per
cent of victims of suicide were illiterate, the statistics
showed.
Government servants were 1.4 per cent of the total suicide
victims.
West Bengal (11.9 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (11.8 per
cent), Tamil Nadu (12.3 per cent), Maharashtra (11.8 per cent)
and Karnataka (9.4 per cent) contributed 57.2 per cent of
total suicide victims.
West Bengal has reported the highest number of suicide
victims (accounting for 11.9 per cent) in 2008 and 2009 and
second highest in 2010 (accounting for 11.9 per cent).
Southern states Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and
Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have accounted for 51.7 per cent of
total suicides reported in the country.
Sikkim and Puducherry had reported 45.9 and 45.5
respectively suicidal deaths per one lakh of population as
against the national average of 11.4.
Besides, more than 55.9 per cent children suicide victims
belonged to five states ? Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, West
Bengal, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu--out of 3,130 suicide
victims.
Sikkim reported the highest rate of suicide (45.9) followed
by Puducherry (45.5), Andaman and Nicober Islands (36.1),
Kerala (24.6) and Chhattisgarh (26.6).
Tamil Nadu has reported significant increase in suicides
(16,561) in 2010 over 2009 (14,424) (an increase of 14.8 per
cent) followed by Maharashtra (from 14,300 in 2009 to 15,916
in 2010), the report said.
The highest number of mass/family suicides cases were
reported from Bihar (23) followed by Kerala (22) and Madhya
Pradesh (21) and Andhra Pradesh (20), out of 109 cases.
33.1 per cent of the suicide victims consumed poison, 31.4
per cent died by hanging, 8.8 per cent by fire/self-immolation
and 6.2 per cent by drowning.
The trend of suicide by hanging has been mixed during
last three years (32.2 per cent in 2008, 31.5 per cent in 2009
and 31.4 per cent in 2010) while suicide by poisoning has
shown decreasing trend in 2007 and 2008 (34.8 per cent in
2008, 33.6 per cent in 2009 and 33.1 per cent in 2010).
Bengaluru (1,778), Chennai (1,325), Delhi (1,242) and
Mumbai (1,192) ? the four cities together have reported almost
40.5 per cent of the total suicides reported from 35 mega
cities.
Among 25 cities, Jabalpur has reported the highest rate of
41.5 and Kolkata reported the lowest rate at 2.1.
The pattern of suicides reported from 35 cities showed
that `hanging` (44.5 per cent), `poisoning` (20.6 per cent)
and `fire/self immolation` (12.6 per cent) were the means used
the suicide victims in the cities.
There is a significant increase in the number of suicides
(136.5 per cent) in Patna (from 63 in 2009 to 149 in 2010)
while Dhanbad showed a sharp decline of 60.5 per cent (from
152 suicides in 2009 to 60 suicides in 2010).
The suicide rate in cities (12.7) was higher as compared
to All-India suicide rate (11.4).
PTI
